by USA TODAY

by USA TODAY

QUESTION: I'm Margaret Talev with Bloomberg News. Mr. President, you're here of course to talk about Asia, but much of the world's attention and yours is also being diverted back to the Middle East now and the situation in Gaza. You're calling for a de-escalation of the violence between the Israelis and the Palestinians. I'd like to ask you, do you believe that a movement of Israeli ground troops into Gaza would be an escalation, and do you support such a move anyhow? And are you concerned that the Arab Spring, at least in the near term, has made matters worse? And does the violence there complicate your pivot to Asia?

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Let's understand what the precipitating event here was that's causing the current crisis, and that was an ever-escalating number of missiles; they were landing not just in Israeli territory, but in areas that are populated. And there's no country on Earth that would tolerate missiles raining down on its citizens from outside its borders. So we are fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself from missiles landing on people's homes and workplaces and potentially killing civilians. And we will continue to support Israel's right to defend itself.

Now, what is also true is, is that we are actively working with all the parties in the region to see if we can end those missiles being fired without further escalation of violence in the region. And so I've had several conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu. I've had several conversations with President Morsi of Egypt. I've spoken to Prime Minister Erdogan of Turkey, who was visiting Egypt right in the midst of what was happening in Gaza. And my message to all of them was that Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory. If that can be accomplished without a ramping-up of military activity in Gaza, that's preferable; that's not just preferable for the people of Gaza, it's also preferable for Israelis - because if Israeli troops are in Gaza, they're much more at risk of incurring fatalities or being wounded.

We're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours. But what I've said to President Morsi and Prime Minister Erdogan is that those who champion the cause of the Palestinians should recognize that if we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, then the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future.

And so if we're serious about wanting to resolve this situation and create a genuine peace process, it starts with no more missiles being fired into Israel's territory, and that then gives us the space to try to deal with these longstanding conflicts that exist.

In terms of the impact of the Arab Spring, let's just remember that the exact same situation arose just a couple of years ago, before the Arab Spring. So I don't think anybody would suggest somehow that it's unique to democratization in the region that there's a conflict between the Israelis and the Palestinians. That's been going on for several decades now.

I do think that as Egyptians, Tunisians, others have more of a voice in their government, it becomes more important for all the players, including the United States, to speak directly to those populations and to deliver a message that peace is preferable to war; that this is an issue that can be resolved if the parties are willing to sit down and negotiate directly; that violence is not an answer; and that there are no shortcuts to the hard work of trying to bring about what I think is the best option - two states living side by side in peace and security.

And that's a message that you can't just direct at a single figure in these Arab countries; now you've got to be able to deliver that message across the board. And that will probably be a little bit harder. But the truth is, is that for any peace that was going to last, that was going to be necessary anyway.